1. Field of Invention
The present invention pertains to sail management systems on sail-powered marine vessels and specifically to systems used in connection with guiding and hoisting or lowering a sail on a forestay, mast, or foremast using a pre-feeder or feeder with an adjustable opening.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pre-feeder devices used with a forestay to hoist a jib sail on a sail-powered vessel are well known in the art. Representative patents describing such pre-feeders and sail management systems include U.S. Pat. No. 3,658,025 (to Hood et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 3,759,210 (to Davis); U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,200 (to Hood et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,005 (to Lagerquist); U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,216 (to Creer III et al.) and RE31,829 (to Stearn). These patents disclose various commonly used mechanical sail management systems available to competitive and leisure sail boaters. In particular, these patents disclose pre-feeders made from extruded, injection molded, die cut, stamped, or bent plastic, metal or a combination of plastic and metal. They are assembled to provide a fixed opening adaptable for loosely encircling the luff portion of a jib sail.
A jib sail is an essentially triangular-shaped sail, the three edges of which are typically referred to as the luff, leach, and foot. The luff is the forward or leading edge of the sail closest to the bow of the boat. The leach is the rearward or aft most portion of the sail. The foot is the bottom edge of the sail and generally runs parallel to the boat deck.
The luff portion of a sail consists of a bead made from plastic tube, boltrope, or other flexible, durable, and generally cylindrical or oval-shaped material that is typically sewn to the luff edge of the sail. This area may be reinforced with a polymeric tape or nylon fabric that is wrapped around and attached to the luff edge of the sail with adhesive or stitches (i.e., the xe2x80x9cluff tape portionxe2x80x9d of the sail). A halyard is attached to the upper head of the sail and is used to raise the sail.
A mast of a sailboat is attached approximately at the center of the boat and vertically extends in a substantially perpendicular direction relative to the plane of the boat deck. A forestay extends from the bow of the boat to the top of the mast (or foremast, if one is present). Its principal use is to support the mast (or foremast) and to hold the jib sail (also called a Genoa sail or headsail). The forestay may include a C-shaped or V-shaped groove running parallel to the longitudinal axis of the forestay. The groove includes a slot that is large enough to contain the plastic bead or boltrope of the luff-edge of the jib sail but has a slot opening that is small enough to prevent the plastic bead or boltrope from pulling free from the groove when the sail is hoisted.
The forestay may include a feeder at the base of the groove to facilitate feeding the luff into the groove, although often there is no feeder or other extending member near the groove opening. Because the jib sail is often folded in layers on the deck of the boat (or in a hold below deck in some boats), the luff needs to be pre-positioned generally parallel to the forestay before it enters the feeder (or directly into the groove opening in the case where there is no feeder) to prevent the luff from bunching at the feeder/groove opening or, worse, causing the jib sail to tear. This pre-positioning is accomplished by using a pre-feeder below the feeder (or below the groove opening where no feeder is used). The pre-feeder is usually tied to the bow of the boat or the bottom of the forestay below the groove using a rope or flexible attaching arm. This method of attaching allows the pre-feeder to move back and forth to accommodate the luff movement as it deploys from its folded position. The pre-feeder aligns the luff so that it enters the groove (or feeder) in a nearly parallel position relative to the groove on the forestay.
Similarly, the mast or foremast may include a feeder positioned just below the groove or track on the mast or foremast. The feeder is used for positioning the luff portion of a sail so that the sail enters the groove on the mast or foremast in nearly a parallel position in the same manner that the pre-feeder positions the jib sail with respect to the forestay.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,658,025 discloses a single cast or extruded plastic guide with two concave guide members forming a generally C-shaped enclosure for loosely encircling the luff portion of a jib sail. The extremities of the two guide members have a gap between them large enough to allow the luff tape portion of the jib sail to pass. The patent illustrates how the guide is attached to the lower portion of a forestay or the deck of a boat to position the pre-feeder below the opening of a grooved forestay feeder. The attaching device is a flexible link that includes a round eyelet on each end.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,216 discloses essentially a single metal rod formed into a V-shaped pre-feeder with plastic or metallic rollers connected to the ends of the two guide members. As with other pre-feeders, the V-shaped pre-feeder includes an opening or gap between the ends of the guide members, and between the rollers attached thereto, for loosely holding the luff between the members while allowing the sail luff tape portion to pass between. As illustrated in this patent, the pre-feeder is attached to a forestay using a rope securely looped around and knotted to the pre-feeder. Commercially available pre-feeders of this type may not have rollers and may have a support bar connecting the two members for dimensional rigidity (i.e., to resist torsional and bending forces).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,759,210 discloses a single, die cut, cast or extruded, pre-feeder attached to a forestay by a rope, the pre-feeder including a C-shaped yoke with two rounded sail-contact members forming a luff-holding opening. A gap is provided between the contact members for allowing the sail sheet to pass between. The disclosed device is intended to prevent a substantial amount of the sailcloth from gathering within the pre-feeder under various conditions.
Various methods of attaching a pre-feeder to a boat are also well known in the art. In addition to the attaching devices described above, U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,005 discloses a pre-feeder attached to a forestay below the forestay track feeder using a spherically-shaped retainer that encircles the forestay. The retainer includes two circular parts hinged on one end and connected together on the other end with a pin.
Similar to the above pre-feeders for use with forestays, feeder systems used to guide and hoist a mainsail (or foremast sail) are also well known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,090,461 (to Rusich) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,475 (to Merry) are exemplary of such feeders. U.S. Pat. No. 4,090,461 discloses a two-member feeder attached to a mast with each member being attached on opposite sides of a C-shaped grooved track parallel to the longitudinal axis of the mast, thereby forming a small gap between the ends of the two members. The gap provided by the two members is large enough for a sail to pass between them, but is smaller than the diameter of the plastic bead or boltrope that is integrated into the sail luff edge. The feeder is welded or bolted to the outside of the mast.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,475 discloses another two-member feeder attached to a mast with each member projecting away from the surface of the mast at an angle forming a triangular shape feeder. As illustrated in the patent, the tips of the two members form a gap that is large enough for the luff tape portion of the sail to pass between, but is smaller than the plastic bead or boltrope of the mainsail luff that is being fed into a groove on the mast. The feeder is attached to the outside of the mast using four metal screws.
One problem with these prior art fixed-opening sail pre-feeders and feeders is that in order to hoist a sail on a grooved track forestay, mast or foremast, the head of the sail containing the leading end of the luff must first be fed through the opening of the pre-feeder or feeder. This must be done because once the sail has been completely hoisted; the pre-feeder or feeder typically no longer encircles the luff. In the case of pre-feeders, for example, the pre-feeder typically drops off the jib sail after the full length of the luff portion of the jib sail passes through the pre-feeder and into the forestay track when the sail is raised. Thus, in order to re-raise the jib sail, for example after the jib sail has been doused, the head of the jib sail must be completely lowered out of the grooved track to the deck so that it can again be re-fed into the pre-feeder.
This creates several problems for sail boaters. In competitive sailboat racing, a crewmember must move to the foredeck of the boat and, with one hand on the sail cloth near the luff and the other hand on the pre-feeder, make ready the jib sail to be hoisted by taking the luff of the sail completely out of the grooved track and re-feeding the luff through the pre-feeder a second time. It is not uncommon that two crewmembers will be assigned to perform this task because of the difficulty involved (i.e., one person must hoist the halyard while the other person operates the pre-feeder) and the need to complete the task expeditiously. Obviously, this reduces the boat""s speed because of the additional weight over the bow and the delay in raising the jib sail. In addition, this process is inherently dangerous for the crewmembers standing near the bow in choppy conditions because of the need to use both hands as noted above.
The above problems are not limited to competition sailboat racing. Recreational sail boaters also rely on pre-feeders and feeders when hoisting sails. Although speed is not as much of an issue to some non-competition sail boaters, the problem remains that someone on the boat must first move to the foredeck, spending extended time at the front of the boat, to feed the sail through the pre-feeder before raising the jib sail or, in the case of the mast or foremast, be ready to handle the mainsail or foremast sail. This is particularly difficult when there is a small crew sailing the boat.
In view of the foregoing, it should be apparent that there exists a need for a more efficient sail management system on sail-powered marine vessels, including a system for guiding and hoisting a sail on a grooved track forestay, mast, or foremast. Specifically, there exists a need for a pre-feeder or feeder that can be used to guide and raise and re-raise a sail without requiring the sail to be completely lowered, and that would be more efficient and present less danger to sail boaters than current devices.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a jib sail pre-feeder that has an adjustable opening for receiving and partially encircling the luff portion of a jib sail.
It is another object of the invention to provide a mast or foremast feeder that has an adjustable opening for receiving and partially encircling the luff portion of a sail.
It is still another object of the invention to provide an adjustable opening device for use on marine vessels, the purpose of which is to feed and pre-feed a line, rope, or boltrope.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a sail pre-feeder or feeder that allows a sail to be partially lowered and then raised again without having to lower the sail completely or remove the sail luff completely from a grooved track in order to reposition the top of the luff portion between the opening of the device before raising the sail.
It is another object of the invention to provide a sail pre-feeder or feeder device that allows a single crewmember to operate the device with one hand.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a sail pre-feeder or feeder that can be removed from a sail without having to raise or lower the sail completely.
Briefly described, these and other objects and features of the present invention are accomplished, as embodied and fully described herein, by an apparatus for use in guiding and hoisting a sail in connection with a grooved track on a forestay, mast or foremast. The present invention overcomes the problems associated with the prior art sail pre-feeders and feeders by providing a device in which the two members of the device can be opened to receive the luff portion of a sail and then closed to loosely secure the luff between the members of the device. Thus, the pre-feeder or feeder can be positioned on a sail when the sail is hoisted to any position on a grooved forestay, mast or foremast, avoiding the need to lower the sail completely out of the grooved track to the boat deck and minimizing the time required to accomplish the task of hoisting a sail.
The present invention includes a first jaw member for receiving a luff, a second jaw member opposing the first jaw member, the second jaw member being movable in relationship to the first jaw member, and wherein the first and, the second jaw members form an opening for partially encircling the luff. The embodiment may also include an eyelet extending through at least one of the members and a rope that is looped through and knotted to the eyelet for securing the apparatus to a sailboat. It may also include a groove cut into the first jaw member, a pin slidably connected to the second jaw member for tracking in the groove on the first jaw member, a stop connected to the pin for maintaining the pin in the groove, a cutout formed in the groove for receiving the stop and for securing the pin in a first position in the groove, and a spring disposed around the pin for holding the stop in the cutout. There is also a hinge or pivot for connecting the first and second members and about which the second jaw member moves in relationship to the first jaw member. The first and second jaw members are each made of one or more of the following materials: Delrin, carbon fiber, titanium, stainless steel, aluminum, and bronze.
The present invention is also directed to a method for guiding and hoisting a sail in connection with a grooved track on a forestay, mast or foremast, including the steps of providing a pre-feeder, wherein the pre-feeder comprises a first jaw member connected to a second jaw member such that the first jaw member is movable in relation to the second jaw member, gripping the first and second jaw members of the pre-feeder; opening the ends of the first and second jaw members of the pre-feeder to accept a luff-edge of a sail; inserting the luff-edge of the sail between the first and second jaw members; closing the pre-feeder thereby loosely and partially encircling the luff; and pulling on a rope tied to the top of the sail to raise the sail.
Additional aspects of the method of the invention include the step of tying one end of a rope to the pre-feeder and tying the other end of the rope to a boat, wherein the pre-feeder is positioned below the opening of a groove on the forestay; disengaging a locking mechanism before moving the ends of the pre-feeder; applying a force to a pin to disengage the locking mechanism before moving the ends of the pre-feeder; and feeding the top of the luff into a groove on the forestay before raising the sail.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become evident to one skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the invention in conjunction with the referenced drawings.